A Different Feeling
by ankithallaiva
Summary: Lily and James survived the night of Halloween, but Harry Potter disappeared after defeating the dark lord. Hermione Granger is a target for bullies until the third year brings a green eyed boy in her life. Alive Lily. Alive James. AU. H/Hr. Harmony. Harry's sudden appearance in the third year will bring a great many changes.


Hermione tightened her fists as she saw the gold and red colored _Hogwarts express_ come into view. It was her third year boarding this magical train, but all she could experience was nervousness and dread in her mind as she looked towards the year ahead.

2 years ago when she had been on this same spot at the exact same date, the feeling of nervousness were still there, but they were in tandem to the feelings of excitement and hope. The hope to finally fit in with people of her age group.

Tragically, it was that very hope that made what came after that all the very more heart-breaking. She not only found herself isolated sooner than she expected, courtesy to some select individuals very soon she was the butt of most of the jokes in Hogwarts. She cried countless times in her dorm or in the girls bathroom. Whenever someone would merely trip her and the rest of the children would laugh uproariously it would hurt so much, not to mention the few elaborate pranks that found her as a constant victim.

BUT,

HERMIONE GRANGER IS NO QUITTER. She would rather die rather than give anyone the satisfaction to know that they made her quit. It had been this resolve that had kept her going on despite everything. She turned towards her parents to give them a long emotion filled hug and kiss them on the cheeks. Her parents looked at her with melancholy, somewhat knowing of her situation but supportive and proud of her resolution. After one long glance towards her parents she stepped up on the train.

Finding an empty compartment, she loaded her trunk on the top shelf and settled herself down tiredly. She opened the book she had picked up to read for the journey and made herself comfortable for the moment. The whistle sounded and she soon found the scenery start to blur by the window. There was a tap on her window and she turned expecting either Draco Malfoy or Daniel Potter, standing outside the door. What she did not expect was … a ball of clothes?

There was somebody who was holding that bundle of clothes, but she could not see his face due to the bundle of clothes he was holding. Startled out of her thoughts by his tapping for a second time, she slided the door open. The person who entered the compartment left out a relieved sigh as he deposited his supposedly clothing on the top shelf. Then he turned towards her.

His hair were a huge mess, they were long enough to reach the nape of his neck and wild enough to stick out everywhere. His eyes were an emerald green, mesmerizing to a point. He looked about her age and was as tall as she was. Most importantly, she had never seen him in school before. Students who transferred were not unheard of, but they were not common either.

The boy extended his very slightly and made a sort of a v with his fingers,

"Yo, I'm Harry Silverfox. Nice to meet ya!"

Hermione wondered if she was supposed to make a v with her fingers in return, she settled on smiling politely. "Hermione, Hermione Granger. Transfer student?"

Hermione expected him to run out immediately. She knew she was being foolish, that he was just a new guy, but one could not help but be insecure.

" Actually, I'm new to this whole magic school thing. You see I'm not getting transferred from somewhere, I just decided to attend this year." That was news to her.

"So how are you going to read up on the course material for the past years? You know there is a lot that has been covered, and it might be difficult for you to keep up if you attend 3rd year classes straight away. You would not be even aware of the fundamental rules of magic if you have not gone through the first year and then there is the matter of choosing electives. You have to be …" Hermione immediately trailed off as she realized what she had done. She covered her mouth with both her hands expecting some kind of retaliation on her know-it-all attitude. Worst of all she had done it in the front of the one person she had the tiniest of hopes of befriending this term. Regardless of how non-existent the hope might have been.

Harry looked up from what looked like a notepad and showed a confused expression.

"Why did you stop? I wasn't aware I would have to choose an elective this year. Though I have already caught up on most of the 2 year course, you can never be sure you know. Huh?"

Hermione was looking at him with a very surprised expression on her face.

"You want me … to continue?"

"Umm. Yes." Harry responded dumbly.

"Did you not find it annoying?" Hermione asked warily.

"No. Was I supposed to?" Harry was confused now.

"Everybody else does." Hermione could not help the bitter remark that left her tongue.

Harry suddenly had a little insight as to what was troubling the witch. He could not help the anger that rose in his chest when he thought that someone would bully such a sweet girl. He may not have been a mind-reader but any sane person could tell after one moment of interaction that this girl was a nice person. Another reason he was angry was because she reminded him of … well him. He knew exactly too well how loneliness feels like.

Today fate had led him to a kindred spirit and he'd rather die than let her down.

"Well, then everybody else can rot for all I care. I have no clue as to what is going on, so I'd rather listen to your advice."

Hermione was truly dumbfounded for a moment there. She could not help the hope that was bubbling in her chest. Still, she knew the new kid was just underestimating her situation; he'd be one of the laughing faces very soon. Even then she could not help but wonder about him, he was just like a ray of sunshine, so very cheerful but carrying something deeper within. So just once loosening a little bit with good company she started talking. She carried a hesitant expression at first while explaining the normal details. Then when the talk shifted to more random topics she eased herself and also smiled at times at his random quips.

As the train moved through the numerous green pastures a certain cabin was filled with a sound that nobody had expected to hear. The laughs of Hermione Granger, was something even Hermione thought she had lost. Laughing so hard that tears were coming out of her eyes and a Harry who was lying on the floor clutching his stomach in bouts of laughter was the scene to which the lady operating the food trolley opened the door.

When the door opened, both Harry and Hermione noticing the food trolley picked themselves up from the floor. Harry and Hermione collected themselves still giggling occasionally. Hermione seeing the trolley lady smiling at them smiled politely in return and went on to buy some snacks to eat.

"And you dear?" The lady asked looking at Harry.

Harry just smiled and shook his head.

The food trolley then left, leaving the duo to their own ministrations. Hermione opened up her packet of sweets and chewed contentedly, with a feeling of an unfamiliar kind of bliss, sitting and eating by Harry.

She offered her packet to him, not out of politeness but because she wanted to share it with him. He just shook his head with a polite 'No, thanks.'

But then, his stomach grumbled. It was loud also. Harry's cheeks turned pink out of embarrassment and Hermione giggled softly.

"Being modest, are we? There's no need to Harry. Here, you take this entire packet while I start on the other one. I don't have much of an appetite anyway."

Hermione knew Harry was not being modest. The condition Harry's clothes were in, the absence of a trunk, the way he had refused the snacks was all indicative that he was financially constrained in some manner. He was just trying not to be a burden. Hermione also knew that this was probably not the best time to bring it up.

Hermione observed how Harry took her offered packet hesitantly and then enjoyed the candies almost as if in slow motion, while taking miniscule sized bites as if wanting this blissful moment to last as long as it possibly could. It broke her heart to imagine Harry living a life of poverty and starvation. She would have sobbed if she had been alone, but for Harry's sake she could not do it.

Hermione could not fathom how someone had managed to make so much space in her heart in just one journey. It was almost scary. She could already feel her heart shattering imagining Harry's face among those who mocked her.

The door suddenly opened and Hermione paled a little, it was Draco Malfoy with his cronies Cabbe and Goyle.

"Well well looks like the mudblood has finally found someone to pollute with her dirt filthy hands." Malfoy sneered. While Hermione was fiddling with her hands, his attention turned to Harry, "And you might be?"

Harry once again held out his hand in a v sign, "Hiya, I'm Harry Silverfox."

"Silverfox? Can't say I've ever heard of it." Malfoy suddenly looked disgusted, " Are you a mudblood too?"

"Nope, it's too dense actually."

Malfoy was purely confused as to what he had heard, "What's dense?"

"Mud" Harry deadpanned.

"Mud?" Malfoy was already out of his league, when Hermione also started snickering in the background.

"Yes, You see the density of mud is too high to serve the function of blood in our body. So it is anatomically impossible for someone to have mud for blood, making the term _mudblood_ insignificant and irrational."

Hermione was trying to hold back her laughter on seeing the bewildered look plastered on Malfoy's face. It was beyond priceless. She knew what was coming next, as Malfoy's face grew red from embarrassment he pulled out the father card.

"You know who my father is, don't you?" Malfoy seethed.

"Not a clue." Hermione burst into laughter hearing this.

"Oh yes" Draco barely grinded out with his teeth, "I've not introduced myself have I, that's why you are lost on the topic of my father. My name is Draco Malfoy." Malfoy folded his arms in front of his chest arrogantly.

"So?" Harry was still not getting it.

"Lucius Malfoy. MY FATHER IS LUCIUS MALFOY, A MEMBER OF THE WIZENGAMOT AND THE CONFIDANT OF MINISTER FUDGE HIMSELF." Malfoy's breath was coming in huge gasps and he seemed ready to kill someone.

Harry gasped and a momentary smirk of triumph appeared on Malfoy's face, before Harry gave a monotonous, "Who?"

At this point Malfoy drew his wand out and started to mumble something. As soon as Malfoy had his wand out Harry had started to close the sliding door with a lot of momentum.

Malfoy and his cronies were essentially standing outside the compartment, so the door hit no one's body. But since Malfoy had drawn his wand, his fingers were close to the edge of the door. The door with a strong momentum landed upon Malfoy's fingers making him howl like a dog in pain. His wand dropped inside the cabin while he fell back outside.

Harry picked up Malfoy's wand, opened the cabin door slightly and put the 2 idiots and the crippled Slytherin outside in a body bind and then threw a few jinxes from all of their wands. He then threw the wands on their bodies and closed the door of the cabin once again.

"Can you cast a protego?" Harry asked Hermione.

Hermione was broken out of her stupor by his question. She was not registering much of what was happening around her but still managed to barely nod. She took out her wand and cast the shielding charm that Harry had asked for. It stayed on for a few moments and then dissipated. She did it twice again.

Hermione understood what harry had done. Now if anyone were to check their wands it would look like Malfoy and his cronies had attacked and got hit by their own spells after getting reflected from her shields.

Still. It did not undermine the risk Harry was taking by standing up against Malfoy.

"Thank you." She said. Harry just waved it off.

They were silent for a while. Night had fallen and the sounds of the engine running were prominent in the cabin. She knew Harry had some idea what he was getting into. But she was still pretty sure that Harry would find better Company eventually. The loneliness almost started choking her. She knew it would be unfair to him if she did not say something.

"You don't have to do this you know." Hermione mumbled slowly. Both heard it clearly and understood perfectly what she meant.

"I know, but I will."

 **A/N: Please Review and offer your honest criticism.**


End file.
